Taking A Closer Look at the Sale and Possible Rescue of KPLU

Our VP of Public Affairs Alex Fryer wrote in January about our support to raise funds for NPR affiliate KPLU to purchase their broadcast license and prevent a sale to the University of Washington. In our opinion, the loss of an independent KPLU would be a blow to the Seattle-area media landscape.

KPLU needs to raise $7M before June 30, 2016. Just one month into the #SaveKPLU campaign and they’ve successfully raised just over $1M. But, there is still a long way to go, with just five months left before the deadline.

Fortunately, the community effort to raise awareness and most importantly dollars has not wavered.

Recently Northwest Now, the Emmy Award-winning public affairs program produced by KBTC-TV, hosted a panel discussion on the future of KPLU and why our lives would not be same without it. You can view the full show here. Alex Fryer joined the panel to discuss the impact KPLU has in our community.

Panelists Include:

Joey Cohn, general manager of KPLU

Stephen Tan of the KPLU Community Council

Cliff Mass of the University of Washington

Alex Fryer, vice president of Public Affairs at The Fearey Group

WHY DOES THIS MATTER?

During the broadcast many of the panel members articulated the value KPLU provides our community from award-winning local journalism to great jazz and NPR programming.

“We only have one public radio station with substantial local reporting and dialogue and that’s KPLU,” says Cliff Mass, meteorologist at the University of Washington and KPLU contributor.

As a former reporter in the communications/public relations industry, Alex Fryer stressed that, “unless there’s a vibrant local press, a lot of these messages that local groups, the government and other organizations are trying to get out to the community, those avenues will be lost. They are vitally important as we look to make good decisions for our community and for our own family.”

We hope you will join us to #SaveKPLU in the months ahead! You can learn how to get involved and donate to the station here.

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Rachel Taylor

Marketing + PR Manager

Rachel is a born communicator and marketing specialist. After spending three years on the client side, capturing media hits and crafting powerful stories for a variety of organizations, Rachel now tackles all of Fearey’s marketing and public relations initiatives from the inside.

As a Seattle native, she’s a go-to resource for information about hiking or anything outdoors. You will find her squeezing every adventure into the time outside of work – Whistler ski trips, post-work training hikes up Mailbox Peak, canoe camping, summiting Mt. Adam’s on skis, backpacking the North Cascades or paddleboarding on every body of water possible. In the rare moments of rest, she’ll kick back in a hammock with a good read and the pup.